Liveblogging: IAB Mobile

Linda Barrabee, Program Manager, Consumer Research, Mobile Entertainment, Yankee Group, led the final panel of the day called a Fireside Chat, Research and the Future, Truth or Dare.

The last panel of the day was in many ways a wrap up of all of the very conversations held at the IAB Mobile Leadership Forum. Led by Linda Barrabee, Program Manager, Consumer Research, Mobile Entertainment, Yankee Group, the panel called a Fireside Chat, Research and the Future, Truth or Dare began with the most persistent question of the day: “Where are we in respect to engagement beyond voice on the cellphone; what are consumers doing on their phone?” Barrabee asked.

Eric Neufeld, Vice President and Senior Analyst at comScore, said that the biggest challenge hindering the development of the mobile ad marketplace is getting more people to go beyond plain vanilla voice communications on their cell phone.

Eric Neufeld, Vice President and Senior Analyst at comScore, said that we’re running out of people to sell phones to, but the vast majority don’t do anything beyond voice. The percentage of people who browse and get email on cell phones shows good growth relative to where this number started, “but when you look at the total of user population, it’s still not enough,” said Neufeld.

John Burbank, Chief Marketing Officer of Nielsen Co., said that the most important metric that advertisers want is to be shown where mobile ads work.

John Burbank, Chief Marketing Officer of Nielsen Company, echoed this belief but took it one provocative step further. “Mobile advertising is not a material player for advertisers,” he said. “Maybe for MySpace and Facebook and maybe for ringtones. But not much else.”

So what will take for the mobile advertising marketing, which has been described throughout the day as finally evolving and ready to burst forth, actually live up to its significant promise? For one thing, said Neufeld more phones in the marketplace with smart capabilities and leading edge features that provide advertisers with real opportunities to present their commercials in an engaging, interactive, personalized and customized way.

Indeed, the price of cell phones or phone plans is not a deterrent, it is just the ability to provide valuable advertising content that will determine how quickly mobile advertising takes off, Burbank said. And the ability to provide more valuable advertising content will come about as better content drives people to their cell phones for more than just voice services. “More valuable material will have more people willing to pay the price for data services,” Burbank said.

Neufeld added that in the advertising world complexity is bad and without standards complexity is rife – and that makes it hard to get companies to run mobile ads.

As for the metrics that mobile advertisers want, metrics that still are not yet available, there is really only one, said Burbank: “Can you can you show me where it works. If you show them that, they’ll be there.”

Randy Zadra, visiting fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, led the panel on Carriers and the Mobile Marketing Ecosystem: Accelerating Access at the IAB Mobile Leadership Forum. He posited initially that bound by their size and tradition, telephone carriers were long staid, nearly immovable organizations. Thanks to mobile marketing, though, they currently stand at the headwaters of cultural and commercial change, both within their own organizations and society at large.

Jordan Berman, Executive Director of Media Innovation at AT&T Mobility, spoke about a company and industry transformed by the iPhone.

Jordan Berman, Executive Director of Media Innovation at AT&T Mobility, describes carriers as organizations suddenly serving two masters: consistency, that old standby, and innovation, the new imperative.

“What do consumers want when they buy a phone?” he asked, as excited crowds were still lined up to buy record numbers of iPhones. “First and foremost, connect my phone. Don’t drop it. Do no harm is the first rule.”

But as sure as they want consistency, those crowds eager to sign up for AT&T services simultaneously want to be surprised and inspired by the features at their fingertips.

Scott Kelliher, Director of Mobile Advertising, Virgin Mobile USA, described life at a smaller, innovative carrier.

“We have to provide them with moments of wow,” echoed Scott Kelliher, Director of Mobile Advertising, Virgin Mobile USA.

Toward this end, carriers are working with their customers, as they always had, to figure out their preferences, but under a new mindset are also dealing with advertisers and all manner of other new partners.

“For the first time we are dealing with Chief Technology Officers and Chief Information Officers,” Berman said.

As a matter of course, carriers now seek to leverage popular culture in mobile marketing campaigns. AT&T did so many promotions with American Idol that Berman was not far off in declaring Clay Aiken “the father of text messaging.” Virgin, for its part, does promotions at rock concerts text messaging VIP ticket upgrades to those who carpooled.

The latest word in promotion using mobile coupons, sweepstakes, videos and games has become a prime goal for the carriers and options abound, even as issues of privacy might, to Berman’s eye, slow progress down to an appropriately safe speed.

“We don’t want to mess up and poison the ecosystem before it totally grows,” he said. “We are at the very first inning of a very long baseball game.

Location based services, the pair agreed, might be the so-called “killer app” for the carriers, perhaps sending customers coupons for one store as they walk past a competitor’s.

It is, Berman said, an example of the carrier’s new currency: “special sauce.”

“And sauce is good,” Kelliher agreed.

“Sauce is darn good.”

David Doty, the senior vice president of Thought Leadership and Marketing for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, speaking at the IAB Mobile Leadership Forum.

3:50 p.m.

David Doty, the senior vice president of Thought Leadership and Marketing for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, invited attendees at the IAB Mobile Leadership Forum to hear succinct five-minute presentations from a rotating series of mobile solutions providers. The day encompassed many long-form panels, but here several dozen firms from Microsoft Mobile Advertising to Nokia were to present the essence of their offerings in what amounted to a business version of speed dating. Said Doty: “No fluff, all meat, all meaning.”

Meet The Publishers - 3:48 p.m.

Mickey Alam Kham, editor in chief of Mobile Marketer, moderated a panel called Meet the Publishers at the IAB Mobile Leadership Forum.

Mickey Alam Kham, editor in chief of Mobile Marketer, led a panel called Meet the Publishers at the IAB Mobile Leadership Forum, which explored what role mobile advertising is playing in content publishing. All of the panelists – each participant from a major content publisher – agreed that some of the most exciting advertising activities are coming through the mobile channel. But there are serious challenges that must be overcome.

For one thing, said Sophia Stuart, Mobile Director, Hearst Magazines Digital Media, mobile needs to become cheaper for people to use. Without that, there won’t be a sufficient number of consumers to reach for major advertisers.

Jeffrey Litvack, Global Director, New Media Markets, AP Digital, added that the consumer wants to get content and advertising targeted at their preferences. Advertisers, like content providers, must deliver personalization. In other words, Litvack said, “more than a banner ad.”

Larry Shapiro, Executive Vice President, Business Development and Operations, General Manager, North American Mobile, Walt Disney Internet Group, said that Disney is fortunate to have the most active mobile customers in its sweet spot — the tweens.

Also essential, said Larry Shapiro, Executive Vice President, Business Development and Operations, General Manager, North American Mobile, Walt Disney Internet Group, are better global standards. With so many different types of handsets and different browsers, the fact that certain phones don’t allow video, “it is almost impossible to have a consistent user experience to offer people. It takes a focused juggling act to enable you to represent your property and your assets to consumers.”

Nonetheless, even with the obstacles, Shapiro added, mobile advertising is a market just ready to burst. “I call it mobilewillbebig 3.0,” he added.

Sophia Stuart, Mobile Director, Hearst Magazines, Digital Media, said that by being creative advertisers can seize individuals when they are most interested. For example, Good Housekeeping Magazine found that at 4:00 in the afternoon, most women don’t know what they are cooking for dinner. What better time, she asked, then that to send women via cell phone recipes linked to advertising?

At this session, the AP announced that 728 AP newspapers have joined its Mobile News Network — a 580 percent jump in media participation – since its launch in May. Leveraging this network, said Litvack, marketers can build integrated campaigns at the neighborhood level both in mobile and print, and mobile users can access their local sources of information wherever and whenever they want.

Bruce Stewart, Vice President and General Manager for Connected Life Americas Yahoo! Inc., said that Asia and India offer the greatest opportunities.

Added Bruce Stewart, Vice President and General Manager for Connected Life Americas
Yahoo! Inc., the best global opportunities are in Asian and Indian markets, where mobile activity has flourished first.

Toward the end of the session, Disney’s Shapiro, spoke about how powerful the mobile phone is to the “tweens” audience that his company reaches so well. This group spends so much time text messaging that linking the mobile phone to campaigns for Hannah Montana and High School Musical as well as to advertising related to this shows is almost like picking low hanging fruit.

All of the publishers said that media buyers interested in advertising in mobile channels can find at their companies experts focused solely on developing these promotional efforts. They can call publishers and brainstorm ideas as well as collaborate in the creation of new campaigns.

Mobile as Unique Marketing Platform for Traditional Media - 1:30 p.m.

Gary Schwartz, President and CEO of Impact Mobile and the head of IAB’s Mobile Marketing Committee, headed the panel on Mobile as Unique Marketing Platform for Traditional Media at the IAB Mobile Leadership Forum.

Gary Schwartz, President and CEO of Impact Mobile, kicked off the Mobile as Unique Marketing Platform for Traditional Media panel at the IAB Mobile Leadership Forum by asserting that the cell phone can be viewed as a mouse, a clickable device that connects consumers directly to a more traditional Internet-based or offline advertising campaign.

The multi-platform campaigns discussed by the panel:

Mike Anderson, Lead Consultant, Live Nation’s ConcertVision program, spoke about how his company reaches concert goers via mobile phone.

Mike Anderson, Lead Consultant, Live Nation’s ConcertVision program, said that Live Nation kept in constant touch with hundreds of thousands of concertgoers by giving them a number to call on their mobile phone allowing them to send personalized notes to the screen at a concert event (inviting a friend out to dinner after the show, for instance) or to anytime get additional information about artists, sponsors, venues and future shows. Using the connection with a music lover gained from this “pull” campaign (and the cellphone number that came with it), Live Nation then does “push” campaigns via mobile phone to these individuals, telling them about how to get tickets to future shows by performers that these individuals have previously expressed interest in.

John Haegele, CEO, Van Wagner Sports Group, gave an example of a sports venue campaign to compel fans to turn their attention more often to stadium Jumbotrons (and of course the advertisements on the big boards). In this campaign, pictures of hundreds of fans were taken as they entered the stadium. Van Wagner staff whittled this treasure trove down to three or fan pictures and put them on the Jumbotron, asking people in the crowd to vote via mobile phones for which fan is their favorite.

Rich Begert, President and CEO of SinglePoint, explained how networks are linking TV shows to cell phones to promote their productions.

Rich Begert, President and CEO of SinglePoint, offered a TV-related concept in which networks from NBC to BET ask a question of the audience during a television show related to the program. When viewers respond via cell phone text messages they receive in return video clips along with brief commercials.

Eric Harber, President and COO of HipCricket, showed how businesses as small as home cleaning services can take advantage of the cell phone to attract customers.

Eric Harber, President and COO of HipCricket, recounted a mobile campaign for a local home cleaning company based in Salt Lake City, Utah in which people who dialed in via cell phones could win tickets to a Brad Paisley concert. Eighty percent of those who responded also asked for housecleaning services.

Skip Brand, Chief Revenue Officer of Pudding Media, spoke about a new campaign for an old product: calling cards. A hefty call discount of 50 percent is offered in exchange for the caller listening to a targeted seven second advertisement. For example, someone from New York calling Manila, speaking in a Phillipine accent, may get a commercial for an airline ticket.

While all of these innovative campaigns have produced excellent results, panel members pointed out that there still is much more supply than demand – that is, more cell phone bandwidth and not enough advertisers yet – principally because for individual campaigns there are few metrics to monitor how well these promotional efforts are doing. But for brands that have multiple platforms from which to view consumers, these campaigns offer advertisers a vast amount of insight into consumer choices and it offers consumers a valuable and simple way to connect more closely to the products and brands that they prefer. The main thing, though, says Anderson at LiveNation, is product providers must present valuable content to consumers.

Mobile Marketing Success Stories - 11:47 a.m.

With the mobile ecosystem evolving quickly and mobile advertising budgets on the rise, many ad campaigns have met with remarkable success. Several common threads can be pulled from these case studies with the overriding one: success has come in areas that might surprise those with rigid, pre-set assumptions.

Julie Ask, researcher director at JupiterResearch, led the Mobile Marketing Success Story panel at the IAB Mobile Leadership Forum.

Speaking at a panel at the IAB Mobile Leadership forum in Manhattan moderated by Julie Ask, Research Director at Jupiter Research, four speakers who are running successful mobile advertising campaigns debunked the notion that mobile advertising is only to target the youngest demographics. By linking to point of sale campaigns, producing ads that make a public event jazzier and more memorable or imparting the sort of essential information that makes customers reliant and engaged, mobile campaigns can have a wide appeal and considerable impact.

Vladimir Edelman, Chief Executive Officer of Ansible Mobile, provided insight into a mobile ad program developed from a well-established Internet site for pregnant women.

Vladimir Edelman, Chief Executive Officer of Ansible Mobile, told a success story from what many might assume an unlikely topic: pregnancy. Johnson & Johnson produces Babycenter, a long established site that handles issues related to pregnancy. Capitalizing on the intimate nature of mobile advertising and its ability to deliver information, Ansible’s campaign provided mobile access to the questions most relevant to pregnant women—whether something happening to them physically was normal or dangerous and if a particular type of food was safe.

Edelman also showcased a mobile promotion done in partnership with Verizon at the Tribeca Family Festival. Created in a special studio, children were spliced into their favorite cartoon adventures, with the results sent to mom and dad’s phone (soon friends and grandparents too) all within 3 minutes. The same thing was repeated at ballgames, with fans inserted into highlight reels in a campaign that had far greater impact than any “brought to you by” announcement.

Eric Bader, Managing Partner of Brand in Hand, walked the audience through a Vicks DayQuil campaign that came harnessed to mobile weather reports, a Gillette sponsored voting program for a NASCAR event, mobile shopping lists organized by Pringle and dog bark ring tones that came in conjunction with—you guessed it—a dog food producer. He urged the audience to not neglect Hispanic audiences, who are using mobile for Internet access in more and more substantial numbers.

Jeff Arbour, vice president of Mobile Integration at The Hyperfactory, spoke about his work targeting different types of demographics.

Raising more widely based brand awareness is not necessarily part of the goal, but a Mobile Crest IQ Quiz performed incredibly well. Jeff Arbour, vice president of Mobile Integration at The Hyperfactory, which recently worked on a mobile campaign with Food Network that averages more than 50,000 a week, added that mobile can be marketed to narrow market segments even as it hits a demographic as wide as the Internet itself.
Said Edelman: “The watershed event came when my mother started text messaging. That’s both good news and extremely bad news.”

Maria Mandel’s theme throughout the keynote address at the IAB Mobile Leadership Forum was that mobile has the greatest possibilities as an advertising channel because mobile devices – particularly, the cell phone but also Blackberrys and interactive PDAs – are the most important devices that people have in their lives. Next to their keys, people always carry their cell phones and other mobile devices and this equipment is virtually always on.

Ms. Mandel supported this notion with compelling statistics: More than 60 percent of people use text messages; the number one way that people access the Internet globally is through mobile devices. More convincing data: according to researchers, advertisers will spend $1.7 billion in the mobile channel this year and this will increase to $12 billion over the next five years. In addition, Ms. Mandel said, there are 1 billion more cell phones than PCs. Before long, more people will be viewing content on cell phone devices than TVs. And about 60 pct of people who purchase the IPhone buy it because of its Wi-Fi applications.

There are five ways for advertisers to leverage this rapidly growing marketplace, Ms. Mandel said:

The simplest is sending text messages to consumers engaging them with quizzes, sweepstakes and polls.

When people are surfing the mobile Internet, interact with consumers through banner ads or by driving them to another Internet website.

Video is still in the nascent stage but some companies are beginning to tap this channel. Important that video content produced for mobile devices performs better when it is different from the content presented on television or the computer-based Internet. In other words, if it is video, be unique and engaging – give people information that they are looking for or entertainment that attracts them.

People take a picture of a “code” on a printed page with their mobile device and automatically data, video, information, coupons, among many other things is automatically sent to them via the handset.

Create a positive experience for consumers with an application loaded on their mobile devices. Ms. Mandel provided a fascinating example of a digital personal assistant that can help young users find the hottest bars and clubs to go to and even view these locations on their mobile devices via Webcams; or book a limo or buy a gift. This application, offered by Johnnie Walker, gives users a continuous relationship with the products made by the company. Of course, the gifts the digital assistant will offer will be Johnnie Walker liquor.

Ms. Mandel said that you can view the mobile advertising marketplace as a push and pull channel.

Typical push applications are banner ads and text links. The average click thru rate, she noted, is a remarkable 2 percent, compared to only. 2 percent for online push advertising.

Pull applications such as ask a question on a billboard and ask consumers to use their mobile devices to call an 800 number with the answer. Another involved having people take pictures of themselves with their mobile devices at a Hong Kong airport, send them to Motorola, who then posted these pictures – good bye photos for friends and families – on a large video screen. During one recent ad campaign, Ms. Mandel said, the mobile channel had 7 times the response rate of an 800 number.

Ms. Mandel closed the keynote address by offering six best practices for mobile advertising:

Integration – leverage all channels to support the campaign, everything from the basic Internet and TV to mobile.

Make sure the ad is a clear call to action. Don’t let the marketing message get lost in the cool factor of mobile.

Test the ad carefully to make sure that it does not go over the target’s head.

Measure response with analytics.

Built the list. Mobile lists are precious and often wasted.

Consider the viral aspects of mobile. Incorporate the ability for users to pass along the campaign to others.

Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, welcome participants at the IAB Mobile Leadership Forum with the message that mobile advertising has matured to the point that the opportunities cannot be ignored any longer.

Welcome Remarks - 9:35 a.m.

Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, opened the IAB Mobile Leadership Forum with a provocative notion: the mobile advertising marketplace has finally come of age. He pointed out that the cliché that has predominated for the last ten years is that we have heard that mobile is the next big thing. When will it happen? Well, it has happened, Rothenberg said. And that is what will be revealed at the IAB Mobile Leadership Forum. Indeed, Rothenberg said, we are moving to a three screen universe. And that means that marketers and agencies are able to reach increasingly mobile consumers, giving them information when they want and where they want– this is no longer the future but the here and now. The third screen is mainstream. Now is the time to better comprehend the form and structure of this emerged new reality. “To understand,” said Rothberg, “the 3 in 3G, the Wi in Wi-Fi.”

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23 Comments

mkp said:

IAB Mobile Leadership forum that was held along side with the main players of the communications sector. Many innovative thoughts and ideas were presented in the forum. The forum discussed many ways about how good can the companies earn more by providing quality service. I hope that after all the discussions the customers should get good service from the mobile companies. John Mobile Analytics

When John said, “Mobile advertising is not a material player for advertisers,” he said. “Maybe for MySpace and Facebook and maybe for ringtones. But not much else.”...he was absolutely right. We don't have time to even answer our phones anymore, much less suck up more advertising. Video preview ads were the start but it seems like interruptive advertising is getting worse and worse.

Of course this post is older and over 50% of all new phones are smart phones... the most people use facebook or twitter with the smart phones ... the internet is the future! Übersetzung Schwedisch Deutsch

Van Wagner staff whittled this treasure trove down to three or fan pictures and put them on the Jumbotron, asking people in the crowd to vote via mobile phones for which fan is their favorite. how to get a girl to like you

Indeed, the price of cell phones or phone plans is not a deterrent, it is just the ability to provide valuable advertising content that will determine how quickly mobile advertising takes off. buy meratol

"said that we’re running out of people to sell phones to". I do not quite agree with that. I think the number of people with mobile phones will vastly increase, especially when more and more people will become convinced of the advantages of smartphones, like Blackberries and iPhone and eventually low-cost smartphones. My 2 cents. übersetzungsdienst

“Mobile advertising is not a material player for advertisers,” he said. Well, perhaps now, but wait a couple of years when the smartphones get more widespread and better on advertising formats and it could be much more different. traduzione giurata

Not that home sellers are going to try and take advantage of you, but they are definitely going to try and make the highest sale that they can get; this is still a business. So knowing what to do and not to do when you are already in the stage of negotiation is a must.

The internet is essential now for the users in the whole world and it is becoming the major communication way on mobiles, and we will get everything on these mobiles like information , advertisements or games, but restriction must be made.